To safely identify the controller without cracking open the plastic casing of your USB drive, use a free hardware diagnostic utility called or Flash Drive Information Extractor . Steps to Identify the Chip:
Have a success story or an error not listed? The community at r/datarecovery and USBDev forums are excellent resources for edge cases with the FC1179 controller family.
Scans the NAND flash memory for physical defects and "masks" them so the drive remains usable. Firstchip Mptools V1.0.4.3 Fc1178 Fc1179
Firstchip MPTools V1.0.4.3 is a specialized mass production (MP) software application used to repair, format, and flash firmware onto USB flash drives. It is specifically designed for USB drives that utilize the FirstChip FC1178 controller chips.
If prompted for a password in settings, try leaving it blank, or enter 320 , 123456 , or 0000 . To safely identify the controller without cracking open
If you have a drawer full of "dead" USB drives that show up in Disk Management with no capacity, this software gives you a 70-80% success rate—far higher than any built-in Windows tool.
: Identifies and maps out unusable (bad) blocks on the NAND flash memory to improve stability. Usage Highlights Scans the NAND flash memory for physical defects
: If V1.0.4.3 doesn't detect your drive, you may need a newer version like V1.0.5.2 or V1.0.7.2 .
Any data previously stored on the drive will be permanently lost and cannot be recovered by standard data recovery software. Brick Risk:
Using mass production tools carries a risk of permanently "bricking" the device if configured incorrectly. Following a systematic approach ensures the best chance of recovery. Identify your chip using ChipGenius.
Unlike standard operating system formatting utilities (like Windows Disk Management), which operate strictly on the logical partition layer, MpTools interfaces directly with the hardware controller and the NAND flash memory chips. Key Capabilities of the Utility